Daily Independent (Lagos)
Sule Lazarus and Otei Oham
3 July 2009
Abuja — House of Representatives members appear finally set to begin the long awaited constitution review, with a resolution on Thursday to adopt a special procedure for the exercise.
The motion to this effect was moved by Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Ita Enang, and 18 othes.
The motion, entitled, "Special Order No 1, 2009: Procedure for Amendment of the 1999 Constitution", was brought under 1, Rule 1(2) Standing Orders of the House of Representatives.
The motion generated heated debate as some lawmakers were of the view that it was a duplication of the provisions of Section 9 (2) of the Constitution.
But Enang, while presenting the motion at plenary, explained that it was to fill in some missing gaps in amendment procedures set out in the Constitution.
"Section 9 of the Constitution subsection 2 says an Act for the amendment of the proposal must supported by two-thirds majority of the members as required by the Constitution."
He said the motion would address the question of "at what stage do we need the majority? If that is what we adopt, we can adopt the special procedure to guide this process".
Enang observed that from 1999 the National Assembly has not been able to successfully amend the constitution.
He said as the House gets set to amend the Constitution, the motion if adopted will guide the internal activities of the House in the course of the amendment.
According to him, there was no clause that negates the provisions of the Constitution.
Betty Apiafi, in support of the motion, noted that its aim was to simplify the procedure for the House on the issue of constitutional amendment.
"It is specific on what is expected of us concerning the amendment. For instance, if we are 100 on the floor, is two-thirds of that number enough?"
Friday Itulah, in his own contriution, said since the Standing Order of the House does not have a procedure in place for the amendment "it is good to adopt the motion".
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